Northern California Brews and Review: May 2011

27th Great American Beer Festival

Congratulations to our brewers who participated in the event and won the following for their efforts:

Bronze
Bear Repulic Brewing Co. www.bearrepublic.com
for their Bohemian Pilsner and Amber Lager.

Fifty Fifty Brewing Co. www.fiftyfiftybrewing.com
for their Imperial Stout .

Third Street Ale Works www.thirdstreetaleworks.com
for their Dry Irish Stout.

Schooner's Brewery www.schoonersbrewery.com
for their Oatmeal Stout

Silver
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. www.sierranevada.com
for their Kolsch.

Russian River Brewing Co. www.russianriverbrewing.com
for their IPA.

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. www.avbc.com
for their Belgian Strong.

Gold
Mad River Brewing Co. www.madriverbrewing.com
for their Extra Pale Ale.

Russian River Brewing Co. www.russianriverbrewing.com
for their Belgian Ale.

Mulvaney's Restaurant and Rubicon Brewing Co.

Mulvaney’s Restaurant
&
Rubicon Brewing Co.

Team up for a 7-course beer and dinner pairing
Thursday August 14
Seating is limited to 100
All food is seasonal and regional
The menu is done to feature pork Jamaican style
Scott and Patrick will be your host as each course is brought out family style in the new banquet room.
Call 411-6022 for reservations
Tickets are 75.00

Special features include:

Sour Cherry lager

Dessert by Ginger Elizabeth
www.gingerelizabeth.com/events

Patrick asked that I don’t share all the surprises so you’ll have to plan on being there.

Mulvaney's Restaurant is located in Sacramento.
They do not have a website so please call for directions.

Swag or Swig?

Attention beer lovers:

Let you local brewery know that your not there to drink Budwieser.

Microbreweries in the California are a bit anxious these days.

A-B is lobbying to increase the dollar amount of swag give aways to $5.00.
They justify this because according to them they are able to do it in “other” states.
A-B also states that they are trying to compete with the wine and liquor distributors.
I think A-B is confused about their market.

They are doing this primarily to influence restaurants and tap houses to give them more space.

Attention: Beer lovers, Let your local brewery know that your not there for the swag. Your there for swig.
Buy t-shirt at your local brewery to show your support and have a pint of regional beer.

Not Just Pizza Delivery Anymore

There is a not so new service in town that may bring your favorite pub fare to your living room.

It is a collaborative service that works with participating restaurants in your town. It is called Food to You. They provide service as far south as Modesto and as far north as Granite Bay.

In the Sacramento area you can order from Brew It Up, BJ’s Brewhouse, Hoppy Brewing Co., and Sacramento Brewing Co. .

To see what restaurants are participating in your area and to check out their hours of operation, go to www.foodtoyou.com

My First Time.........

My first time I paid corkage for a beer?

May 2005. I had just attended a tasting at BevMo and purchased a case of Stone Brewing Co.'s Verticle Epic.
This was a Saison with Kefir leaves. It was a great ale with a lot of subtle yeast character and untypical twist with the Kefir leaves. I purchased a case of the 220z bottles.
Afterward, my best friend and I stopped in at Zinfandel's Grill of Fair Oaks Blvd. in Sacramento for a bite to eat. I knew that I wanted to enjoy a bottle of the Verticle Epic so I asked my server what the corkage would be for the bottle.
The look I got from him told me I had some explaining to do. The server was gracious, and charged me half of what he would for a bottle of wine and made sure I had the glass I wanted.

Beer of The Week Feature

Beer of the Week

Beginning July 1, every Tuesday, I will be featuring a Beer of The Week. I will start with a beer category as set forth by the BJCP guidelines and discuss each style in that category. I will also include regional microbreweries, which carry that style.

Not all styles will be brewed by a microbrewery. In that case I will at least let you know where I purchased the beer and hopefully you will be able to try it out. Either way, you will be able to get a commercial example of that beer if you want to try it out for yourself.

The first five weeks I will be talking about Light Lagers. This category includes: Lite American Lager, Standard American Lager, Premium American Lager, Munich Helles, and Dortmunder Export.

These beer styles have a rich German Heritage and the beers are highly esteemed throughout the world. You will probably be surprised at the commercial examples I state for these beers. German beers have had a far-reaching effect on the industry over time.

Stay tuned and don't drink and drive.

Northern California Brews and Review

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Sunday, May 8, 2011

We Want Your Cork

Picture This!